British Gas - learning from the Banks?

alx said:
Well they've increased their customer base and now offer that Nectar points thing - does that count? :D
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Well no it doesn't, you mix the profits of BG with the spending of Centrica and use it as justification. Centrica are a much larger group with many and varied interests.

BG profits may or may not be justified but fudging the figures won't help your argument.
 
Telescopi said:
Well no it doesn't, you mix the profits of BG with the spending of Centrica and use it as justification. Centrica are a much larger group with many and varied interests.

BG profits may or may not be justified but fudging the figures won't help your argument.
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Do we know the turnover/revenue of BG though?

It's all well and good pointing at the increased profit, but we don't know whether the turnover has increased by a greater amount therefore reducing the profit margin of BG.

It's really good practise to just look at profits, you need to consider the profit margin and overall revenue too....
 
I had renewal letter through from BG last week for my Homecare 200 plan, up from £25 to £32 :mad: One swift phonecall later and they drop it to £23!
 
Admiral Huddy said:
I was under the impression that privatisation meant that BG didn't hold the monopoly, opening up competitive alternative suppliers.. This is surely better for the consumer..
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Yes, I'm on some horrendously complicated tariff for gas and electricity that I neither understand nor care to understand about, and I've just switched to another supplier on a horrendously complicated dual fuel tariff that I don't understand or care to understand. I switched in November, the new supplier takes over in March and they just put their prices up in February so now I have no clue if I'd have been better off sticking with the old supplier or not. British Gas frequently call me in the evenings, often when I'm eating my dinner and despite me being signed up to the TPS, informing me that "they are coming up cheaper in my area" but can't tell me what that actually means. They seem quite surprised when I tell them I don't care enough to talk to them any further.

Thank goodness we de-regulated the retail gas and electricity market, soon these companies will perform as well as other deregulated industries such as banking.
 
They say its due to wholesale price increases, but at the end of the day profit is still profit and such profit only goes into their coffers.

We tax the bankers and banks like mad, but we never seem to focus on these huge companies who are truly mugging us all off. I don't think its fair to increase prices by 7% if inflation was only at 4%. They're clearly at liberty to take advantage of us all because they know its something we're vulnerable without.

Pees me off big time.
 
Ricochet J said:
Why are we not looking into starting a mostly nationalized energy company securing low prices for its primary UK customers? It works wonders in France through EDF Energy.
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The thing is, we have hundreds of jobs that have been created for Energy call centres, would be very bad for our economy if we just reverted to one single provider.

Sure, we pay more per unit than many other countries, but it creates a lot of jobs. EVERYONE has energy bills to pay, so it's a good way of forcing people to spend money
 
Forde said:
It's about how much that bill is that comes through the door.
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Yep, and I save a fortune since I moved away from them.

Dolph said:
You can change suppliers. You can't do that when the council decides to spend 25% of council tax on inflated pensions, or when the NHS gives you MRSA...
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You can move the area you live and you could go private for medical care. And as for isn't that a good deal for that amount of money argument isn't that one you criticise when it is used for government led things like the NHS citing how improvements could still be made etc.
 
Those profits aren't really that much considering it's an energy supplier.

And just out of interest....Here's what your average annual dual fuel bill (£1,150) gets spent on....

£495 - Pays for the actual wholesale Gas and Electric (for British gas to buy)
£58 Goes on VAT (to Gov)
£127 Operating costs (Customer service, billing, staff)
£92 Goes to various Gov schemes (Again back to the Gov)
A List of some you pay for - just to show the wastage...http://www.r-e-a.net/info/glossary
£230 Pays for upkeep and extension of the Distribution & networks
£92 ( Net Margin)
£58 Meter costs & callouts for readings.
 
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[TW]Fox;18536660 said:
Why not buy your gas from somebody else then?
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There is certainly a lot to be said for changing your energy supplier on a weekly basis, it messes the suppliers about something horrible, eats into their profits and helps to reduce unemployment . . . every little helps :D
 
Why are people defending it.. breaking it down.. trying to spin it.. its still pretty impressive
 
I can NOT believe that a company is out their to make money. If I owned a company, it would be fairtrade, and non-profit, and i would give all the money to charity
:rolleyes:

You bunch of lying hypocrites. You would do exactly the same in their position and you know it.
 
stockhausen said:
Absolutely outrageous for a monopoly privatised by Thatcher :mad:


Somebody should string up Sid!
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British Gas is no longer a monopoly, the very reason it was privatised.

Making profits is not outrageous, in the current system you can choose your supplier so if British Gas can still make good profits in a competitive market place then fair play to them.

Another pointless ill-conceived stockhousen rant.
 
Skii said:
I had renewal letter through from BG last week for my Homecare 200 plan, up from £25 to £32 :mad: One swift phonecall later and they drop it to £23!
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Why the hell are you paying that much? Loads of claims?

I'm paying £13 a month for homecare 200 (with no excess) for the first year which will rise to the standard price of £17ish :confused:
 
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